IN THE NEWS

(CP)

Corner stores and grocery stores without pharmacies across Canada have been ordered to stop selling a wide range of cold and allergy medications because they contain ingredients that can be used to make the street drug crystal meth.

The ban, which takes effect April 10, does not apply to pharmacies.

But some of the strongest cold and allergy medications, which are those most in demand by clandestine drug labs, will be moved behind the counter and will not be available without consulting a pharmacist.

”The idea is to balance the availability of these products with the risk of retail diversion for illicit purposes,” said Ken Potvin, executive director of the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities, a group that effectively decides where prescription and non-prescription drugs can be sold.

“We think the public will understand this small inconvenience.”

Manufacturers of these popular medications and stores that sell them, however, are miffed.

Gary Sands, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said the decision to pull the products from only some stores makes no sense.

“If these products are really a problem, then why not put them all behind the counter?” he asked.

“I just don’t understand why you won’t be able to buy cold and cough remedies in the grocery store, but you will be able to buy them off the shelf in the pharmacy.”

Sands said while urban dwellers simply will have to shop elsewhere for their cold and allergy medications, those in rural and northern communities, where pharmacies are harder to find, will be most affected by the new regulations.

Pharmacies have been struggling for several years to find a way to deal with the problem. Manitoba and Saskatchewan already have restricted the sales of some of the products to behind the counter.

The new rules apply to all drugs containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Annual sales of these drugs exceed $200 million in Canada.

Products that contain these elements as a single ingredient will be sold only behind the counter at pharmacies.

All of the hundreds of cold, cough and allergy medications that contain multiple ingredients, including ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, will be sold only in pharmacies.